Drilling a bone with a drill tends to generate heat within the bone that may harm the bone or other surrounding living tissues of a patient. Unfortunately, increased heat often results in an increased risk of harm to the patient. For this reason, a practitioner, such as a dentist, nurse, or other medical professional, traditionally drills the hole so as to reduce the amount of heat generated within the bone. To do so, the practitioner initially uses a relatively small drill bit for drilling a similarly small hole in the bone to a desired depth. The practitioner then uses a relatively larger drill bit for drilling a relatively larger hole coaxially through the smaller hole to the same desired depth. The practitioner may then repeat enlarging the hole with additional, larger drill bits until the hole has a desirable diameter and depth. By enlarging the hole incrementally with progressively larger drill bits, the practitioner is able to more efficiently and effectively remove a portion of the bone to form the hole with less heat than drilling immediately with a drill bit having the desired diameter.
While drilling the hole repeatedly, such as during a dental procedure, controlling the drilling depth is crucial to a successful outcome for the patient. On one hand, drilling the hole too deep may damage tissue, nerves, and/or perforate the sinus cavity of the patient. On the other hand, drilling the hole too shallow may not provide enough foundation in which to secure a dental implant. To increase the likelihood of repeatedly drilling the hole to the desired depth, the practitioner often uses a drill bit having a visual marker and/or a drill stop for indicating a desired drilling depth during the procedure. A drill bit including a visual marker for depth may accurately indicate depth, but fails to provide a physical stop to inhibit the practitioner from drilling too deep. Also, known drill stops are typically small in size for fitment between teeth and may be easily lost or misplaced before, during, or after the dental procedure. In any case, these marked drill bits and drill stops often come in sets for drilling a variety of hole sizes, and as such, are expensive to purchase and difficult to handle during the busy atmosphere of the dental procedure.
Therefore, there is a need for a drill limit system and method for drilling a bone, such as a tooth and/or jawbone, that addresses present challenges and characteristics discussed above.